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וימח את כל היקום אשר על פני האדמה מאדם עד בהמה עד רמש ועד עוף השמים וימחו מן הארץ וישאר אך נח ואשר אתו בתבה -7:23
“And [ה'] blotted out all existence that was on the face of the ground – from man to animals to creeping things and to the birds of the heavens; and they were blotted out from the earth. Only נח survived, and those with him in the תבה.” (Parshas Noach 7:23)
Rashi quotes the מדרש תנחומא ט that נח was once late in feeding the lion, whereby the animal bit him in the leg. The מדרש deduces this by the word usage “אך” – “only,” as in “Only נח,” which implies a limitation. The “limitation” was in נח himself, namely that a part of him was missing, having been bitten off by the lion. One who reads this ma’mar (saying) of Chazal may wonder, what is this story teaching me? What deeper meaning lies behind this account? We would like to suggest the following:
The Gemara Bava Metzia 85a states: “Whenever R’ Chanina and R’ Chiya were in a dispute, R’ Chanina said to R’ Chiya: ‘Are you disputing with me? If, Heaven forbid, the Torah were to be forgotten in Israel, I would restore it using my argumentative powers.’ R’ Chiya replied to R’ Chanina: ‘Are you disputing with me, who made sure that Torah should not be forgotten in Israel? What did I do? I went and sowed flax, made nets [from the flax], trapped deers, and I fed their meat to orphans, and prepared scrolls [from their skins], upon which I wrote the five books [of Moses]. Then I went to a town [which contained no teachers] and taught the five books to five children, and the six orders [of the Talmud] to six children. And I bade them: ‘Until I return, teach each other the Torah and the Mishna;’ and thus I preserved the Torah from being forgotten in Israel.’ This is what Rebbi [meant when he] said, ‘How great are the works of Chiya!’”
The obvious question is why was it necessary for R’ Chiya to go through all the trouble to obtain his own parchment when he could simply have gone to the marketplace and bought them ready-made. Maharsha (בבא מציעא שם) explains that in commencing something holy, one must be sure that it has a perfectly pure start. Thus, R’ Chiya intended to insure that the continuation of Torah would spread from solid foundations. There was no room for possible improper monetary transactions, or the like, leading to the emergence of the parchment in the marketplace; they needed to be guarded in holiness from the get-go.
However, this idea needs extra clarification. Why really was it so imperative to begin Torah in this fashion? Why was all this necessary? One can explain this using the Mishna in Avos 1:2 “Shimon HaTzadik was from the later members of the Kneses HaGedola. He used to say: ‘The world stands on three things: On the תורה, on the עבודה, and on גמילות חסדים. (Torah, Service [prayer], and Acts of Kindness)’” Rabbeinu Yona in his commentary explains that what the Mishna means that the world “stands” on these three things is that these are the purpose of creation; that creation of the world was to bring about these things. It is obvious then, that if one of these three things were not being perpetuated, there would thereby be no reason for this world to exist. For example, R’ Chaim of Volozhin writes (נפש החיים שער ד’ פרק י”א כ”ו) regarding the study of Torah, that if all Jews all over the globe were to stop learning for even one second, the entire universe would cease to exist. It is for this reason that R’ Chiya needed to take extreme measures to insure the future of תורה learning, for one of the three pillars of the world sure needs impeccable establishment.
With this we can explain the story of נח in the תבה. Firstly, we need to know that it is clear from the מדרש במדבר רבה י”ב י”ב that the world only stood on one “leg” from creation until מתן תורה, namely גמילות חסדים. This is because the תורה had not yet been given, ruling out Torah, and the משכן had not yet been built (symbolizing עבודה). Now, Rashi (ו:יג) brings the גמ’ סנהדרין קח, that although the generation of the flood was rampant with all sorts of sins, it was only due to their “חמס” – theft and extortion that their fate was sealed. This is certainly a point of contention in commentaries trying to explain why specifically the demise of that generation came via חמס. But with this Midrash all is clear. Because the world at that point stood only – or was created only – for the perpetuation of חסד, therefore specifically by going to the opposite extreme, by robbing and cheating each other, did they meet their end. Without upholding the purpose of the world, there remains no purpose in its existence, as we learned from Rabbi Chaim of Veloshin.
Now we can clarify what we set out to explain. נח, along with his family who were all saved from the fate of the rest of the world, had a very particular job to accomplish in the תבה. What were they to accomplish? That very Rashi we began with tells us based a Midrash, another interpretation of the “לשון “אך : that נח was less of himself. This means that he groaned from the burden of caring for the animals. The תנחומא tells us that all twelve months in the תבה, Noach and his sons did not sleep, for they were needed to feed the animals. Some animals eat only at two hours into the night, some at three hours in, etc. The תנחומא goes on to prove that they did not sleep from the story of נח and the lion, which shows us that נח could not be late to feed an animal. Therefore, since certain animals eat at all different stages of night, we can deduce that they truly did not sleep during their time on board. This certainly needs explanation. If ‘ה found נח to be righteous among his generation to warrant his survival as opposed to all others, why trouble נח during the duration of the flood to such an extent? Surely ה’ can do anything, and could have sustained the animals by Himself, without inconveniencing נח. So why not simply allow him to enjoy the free cruise?
To answer this we need to keep in mind the cause for the destruction of that generation. We explained that at that time there was yet but one purpose to the world: גמילות חסדים – acts of kindness, and they overturned that pillar, thereby causing their own annihilation. We would like to suggest that נח’s “job” as we described it above, was to rectify and reestablish גמילות חסדים; to rebalance the world on its shaky single leg. He could not lay back and enjoy the cruise, he had work to do. In rebalancing the world with גמילות חסדים, נח needed not only to feed one animal from time to time, but to go to great lengths, even by not sleeping for an entire year, to feed all animals all the time. All this was necessary to counter the severity of the destruction to the pillar of גמילות חסדים caused by his generation. This is congruent to the story of R’ Chiya who also exhausted great efforts in establishing the pillar of Torah.
Then, at one point נח came late. This was a great sin on his level. He was the one chosen to perpetuate גמילות חסדים, and his actions thereby needed to be on a high level of perfection. Being late was not an option. The lion sent this message to נח by biting him. In striving to rebalance the world, imperfection could not be afforded. It is implied in the תנחומא that the lion bit נח in the leg, as it says that נח left limping. The symbolism is clear; the message was that in reestablishing the “leg” of the world there must not be any blemishes. There is an old joke: “Why do flamingos stand on one leg? Because if they lift it, they’ll fall.” In causing נח to limp, he was reminded of just how delicate his world was, standing on it’s one “leg,” it’s one purpose – גמילות חסדים. It may only be one “leg” but it would sustain the world. The world needed נח’s גמילות חסדים on the תבה to be done on a perfect level. The lion bite was a תיקון for his slight infraction. The world had a leg to stand on, a purpose, in חסד.
